Archery Season, 2025-2026 Why Missouri’s Bowhunting Policy Deserves Scrutiny

 

 

Despite thousands of deer harvested during archery season, Missouri exempts bowhunters from mandatory CWD testing even in confirmed disease zones like Joplin.

In Missouri, bowhunting season opens on September 15 and spans nearly four months, making it one of the longest and most active hunting periods in the state. Yet despite its scale, archery harvests are exempt from mandatory testing for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) a fatal neurological illness that spreads silently through deer populations and persists in soil, plants, and equipment.

Despite thousands of deer harvested during archery season, Missouri exempts bowhunters from mandatory CWD testing even in confirmed disease zones like Joplin.


This exemption is especially concerning in cities like Joplin, which sits within the CWD Management Zone following a confirmed CWD-positive deer in Jasper County in 2023. Both Jasper and Newton Counties were added to the zone, triggering expanded surveillance and funding for disease mitigation. But the state’s testing policy doesn’t reflect the urgency of the threat.

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s 2024–2025 season totals, hunters harvested 56,347 deer during archery season alone. That figure includes 28,189 antlered bucks, 24,027 does, and 4,087 button bucks nearly 20% of the total statewide harvest of 276,262 deer. These numbers confirm that archery season is not a fringe activity. It’s a major contributor to deer harvests, and in urban areas like Joplin, it’s often the primary method of harvest due to restrictions on firearms.

Yet despite this volume, Missouri only enforces mandatory CWD testing during the opening weekend of the November firearms season. Archery hunters including those participating in urban hunts are not required to test harvested deer, even in confirmed CWD zones. The research guidance is clear: CWD may be present in animals that appear healthy, and testing is the only way to confirm infection. 

The risk isn’t theoretical. CWD prions are shed through saliva, urine, feces, and carcasses. They bind tightly to surfaces like steel and plastic, and they remain infectious even after standard cleaning. A study published by the National Institutes of Health found that only a five-minute soak in 40% household bleach can deactivate prions on stainless steel. Yet this protocol is not part of any public guidance for Missouri hunters, and there is no requirement to decontaminate arrows, knives, or gear used during bowhunts.

In Joplin, where urban bowhunting is now legal on private parcels of one acre or more, the lack of testing and equipment protocols creates a perfect storm. Hunters may unknowingly harvest infected deer, reuse contaminated arrows, and introduce prions into yards, trails, and gardens without ever being notified or held accountable. There is no signage warning residents of active hunting or disease risk, and no public tracking of CWD-positive deer harvested in urban zones.

The Missouri Department of Conservation praised Joplin’s ordinance in a letter referenced by KZRG NewsTalk, calling it a proactive step toward wildlife management. But the absence of mandatory testing during bow season despite high harvest numbers and confirmed disease presence suggests a disconnect between policy and public health.

If archery season accounts for tens of thousands of deer harvested annually, and if CWD can spread silently through healthy-looking animals, then exempting bowhunters from testing is not just a logistical oversight. It’s a public health failure.

Missouri’s policies must evolve to reflect the realities of disease spread, urban hunting, and environmental contamination. Voluntary testing is not enough. Silence is not a strategy. And the arrow doesn’t lie.